§ Lord Fanshawe of Richmondasked her Majesty's Government:
How the standards to be set for discharges of radioactive waste from pressurised water reactors (PWRs) compare with those set for comparable reactors abroad.
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Caithness)The technology of the new generation of PWRs will make it possible to operate them so that the levels of radioactivity in the discharges are very low. In granting authorisations for such discharges, the authorising departments will continue to require the operators to meet specified discharge limits and in addition to use best practicable means to limit discharges of radioactivity so as to ensure that exposures are kept as low as reasonably achievable. These controls will ensure that radiation doses to the critical group of people most affected by the discharges will remain well within the limits recommended by the International Commission for Radiation Protection and endorsed by the National Radiological Protection Board. Due regard will be had to the balance between costs of pollution abatement, including the exposure of on-site personnel, and the effects of the discharges on the environment. Each case will be considered on its merits, but in general the effect is likely to be that levels of radioactivity in discharges from PWRs in the UK will not differ significantly from those from reactors of a compatible size and environmental situation such as those in France.